From The Ashes
by SkipToMyCthulu
Summary: A fatal blow from the sludge villain awakens a latent quirk in Izuku, turning his life and identity completely upside down. But that's okay, because life couldn't be too different as a girl, could it?
1. Prologue

" _If you want to be a hero so bad, take a leap of faith off the roof and hope for a quirk in your next life!_ "

Izuku Midoriya was having a bad day.

" _I cannot simply say 'you can become a hero even without power'. I'm sorry- if you want to help people, you could be a police officer. They're often made fun of, but it is a noble occupation nonetheless._ "

A _really_ bad day, and as he walked absentmindedly from the building where All Might had forced him to accept reality, the sound of explosions brought him back to the present. He stared blankly at the crowd surrounding the crime scene before joining it, even knowing that _none of it mattered_. Izuku nudged to the front, despite his negative thoughts. There was no point, he couldn't be a hero, so why-

 _The sludge villain!_

Izuku stared on in horror as the crowd's whispers told the story.

A hostage situation.

A junior high schooler.

Ongoing for minutes, and Izuku knew from personal experience how horrible the suffocation was.

All Might had been chasing the villain, so where was he now?

 _It's all my fault_ , Izuku thought, hands clasped over his mouth as tears welled in his eyes. _I'm sorry, surely a hero will-_

All thoughts ended as Katsuki Bakugo's fearful eyes met the crowd, and skinny legs ran forward on red high-tops before his mind could even process the situation. Izuku could barely hear the heroes yelling, could barely hear his own thoughts as to why he would jump into such a situation. He threw the contents of his backpack, striking true on the sludge villain's eye. He saw Katsuki take precious breaths as the villain flinched enough to free his mouth, but couldn't hear the boy screaming at him to look for the strike coming from above. Izuku felt the pain, a sharp crack in the back of his skull as the sludge struck, enhanced by his classmate's explosion, and then knew no more. Izuku knew true nothing, true death. He didn't hear the screams of the crowd, the gasps of the heroes powerless to help, or the lamented wailing of his classmate still stuck in the sludge.

And then, there was light- but it wasn't peaceful. It was hot and painful, and Izuku could feel fire in his veins as he burned, _burned, **burned**_ , and as he regained conscious thought, he couldn't help but wonder if there really was a hell and tell himself that he deserved it.

Izuku stepped forward on shaky legs as he **burned** \- _When did I get up?-_ and opened his eyes to see Katsuki Bakugo, free from the sludge villain, staring at him with wide eyes, jaw dropped, and a flushed face. He looked taller than before, but considering the circumstances, Izuku knew he wasn't in the right mind to make such observations.

"Kacchan…" He spoke with a voice higher pitched than he remembered before collapsing forward, unconscious to the world around him.

* * *

Katsuki Bakugo was having a fucking shitty day. First, he had to deal with that Quirkless shit nerd _Deku_ admitting he had the _gall_ to try and compete with him by applying to the most prestigious hero program in the country. Then after putting the nerd in his place, he let his big mouth run and said some _really fucked up_ stupid shit- because as shitty as Deku was, even _he_ didn't deserve to have someone tell him to go kill himself. Yeah, he fucked up, but Deku was an optimist and there was no way he'd actually go through with it.

Until he did.

And that was _after_ Katsuki was only _temporarily_ immobilized by that sludge bastard (because there was _no fucking way_ he would've lost to sewage shit). Fuck off, he had the situation under control. Or so he told himself- because if he really did, then he wouldn't have just _watched_ Deku's skull get crushed and blown up by the sludge villain with the help of _his own quirk_.

 **Shit.**

And then, in the middle of his screaming (because he doesn't fucking _cry_ , dammit), Izuku's mangled corpse _blew the fuck up_ in a great pillar of fire. It sure as hell wasn't from his quirk, which smelled sweet from nitroglycerin because this smelled like ash and fire and _burning flesh_ - **fuck**! This shit burned _hot_ , and Katsuki could see the sludge villain steaming and feel himself sweating from the heat. _Perfect_.

With the villain distracted- from burning or the physical display of it all, Katsuki could give two shits, he let forth the biggest explosion he could from the palms of his hands, blowing the sludge villain apart and _finally_ getting free. And as if the situation couldn't get any more horrific, Deku's body stood _on its own_ and _still on fucking fire_ and… and...

Bakugo felt his cheeks heat up and gaped with wide eyes because the last time he saw Deku in the nude was after gym class and he was pretty fucking sure he didn't have _tits_ and a… a…

 ** _SHIT_**.

Girl-Deku, _what the actual **fuck**_ , opened his- _her_ eyes and stepped out of the fire before _she_ spoke in a definitively female voice,

"Kacchan…"

And then promptly fainted and fell forward. Bakugo had a split second to catch her before she fell on her face. He did his best to glare while holding a naked body at the gawking heroes on the sidelines before adding his own commentary.

"Will you fuckers actually do your **god damn job** and help us out here?!"


	2. Parthenogenesis

When Izuku came to, he wasn't entirely sure what to make of his situation. The sterile smell and rhythmic beeping of a heart monitor suggested he was in a hospital, but his last memories were of a very definitive, very gruesome and _real_ death. But that wasn't quite accurate either- because the fire and burning and _pain_ he remembered subsequently felt just as real as his death, and as the gears in his head began turning, he came to one, albeit impossible conclusion.

 _Is this… the work of a Quirk?!_

It would certainly explain how he came back _from the dead_ , but the vestigial toe joint in his feet had nipped the possibility of it coming from him, as well as his dreams of being a hero, in the bud long, long ago. Maybe it was all a dream, or maybe he-

"Izuku?"

Izuku opened his eyes slowly to meet harsh light and immediate regret, closing them quickly with a soft, feminine groan.

 _Wait, what?_

"Izuku! You're finally awake!"

 _Mom?_

Against better judgement, Izuku turned his head toward his mother's voice and opened his eyes to stare owlishly at her. Fat tears streamed down her cheeks and she lunged forward, hugging him tightly.

"It's going to be okay, we'll get through this."

Izuku felt himself begin to panic. "Get through what?"

The heart monitor practically exploded, because the voice Izuku spoke with was most certainly not his, and was most certainly very, _very_ feminine. Inko Midoriya released her grip before fishing a makeup mirror out of her pocket, tears still streaming down her cheeks. Izuku reached for the mirror with trembling hands and stared in muted horror at the reflection looking back at him… no, at _her_.

"Izuku?" His… _her_ mother pressed, nudging her arm gently and snapping her out of her reverie.

" _KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!_ "

* * *

"Inko-san, Izuku-chan," Izuku flinched at the feminine suffix, "are you familiar with the concept of dormant Quirks?"

The doctor had finally arrived sometime later to calm down the (understandably so) hysterical girl and her equally worried mother with an armful of charts, medical records, and a surprising number of zoology books.

"Those are Quirks triggered by specific environmental cues, right?" Izuku answered immediately. Despite her initial freak out at waking up the opposite gender, she was still a hopeless fanboy…girl _oh Lords_ this was all so confusing, when it came to heroes and Quirks. She frowned as she considered where the doctor was going with this. "But even people with dormant Quirks don't have a vestigial toe joint, so why-"

"The truth is," the doctor interrupted with a slight grimace, "is that an estimated one percent of people who have the vestigial toe joint and display Quirklessness actually have dormant Quirks. The medical community as a whole, and I mean worldwide, has unanimously agreed to diagnose displayed Quirklessness with an extra toe joint as completely Quirkless. Can you take a guess as to why we would do this, Izuku-chan?"

Izuku frowned again and shook her head. "To do so would be to doom a child to a false life of disability, wouldn't it? Why would anyone agree to that?"

The doctor sighed tiredly. "Most Quirks are displayed by fifth generation children, _your_ generation, by the age of four, vestigial toe joint or not. We only perform X-rays on children with Quirks for statistical purposes. It is very rare for a child to have a Quirk and an extra toe joint, but it does happen in approximately one case out of a thousand.

Most of those rare statistics are also individuals with dormant Quirks, and most are discovered accidentally. For example, a deadly peanut allergy may trigger a dormant super-healing Quirk that specifically boosts immune function, or a child's first overexposure to ultraviolet radiation may trigger photosynthetic properties when a sunburn would have been the normal biological response in a Quirkless individual.

Our understanding of how Quirks develop is limited due to ethical concerns on human medical testing and experimentation, and what we do know suggests Quirklessness isn't a result of genetics only, but rather triggered by epigenetic factors that can be passed down. Sometimes developmental issues during pregnancy may lead to Quirklessness, autism, and other abnormalities.

If genetics were the only factor, then Quirks would not have spread so rapidly over the course of five generations; a single descendent cannot birth the majority human population after five generations. There are plenty of hypotheses about the origin of Quirks, and most involve some epigenetic factor that triggered the genes already present within the global population. The genes must have already been present in the entire population for Quirks to spread as fast as they did. Do you understand?"

Izuku understood the population dynamics aspect of it… but… "But then why… why falsely diagnose dormant quirks as Quirkless? I mean… my whole life I-"

"Izuku-chan, can you think of the types of environmental conditions, the types of stress and horrific things some parents may subject their Quirkless children to in the hopes that they may have a dormant quirk?"

Izuku gasped, and her mother took her hand in her own and gave a comforting squeeze. "No… t-they wouldn't-"

"We already have far too many cases of unethical Quirk marriages than I wish existed," the doctor explained morosely. "Arranged marriages are often formed to create powerful offspring and the parents view their children as tools to some end game. I don't doubt there are plenty of parents like this who would have no problem subjecting their children to cruel hardship to trigger a powerful Quirk, which is why the ethics committee of the medical community unanimously agreed to include a more inclusive definition of Quirkless. It is far better for a child to live a mundane life than to be tortured on the off chance that a Quirk may develop. Your own Quirk is a testimony to this."

Izuku stared down at her and her mother's joined hands. "What… what is my Quirk?"

For the first time in their conversation, the doctor smiled. "A very, _very_ interesting one. In fact, Izuku-chan, this may be the most interesting Quirk I have ever come across." He pulled out the first book- a book on ichthyology and flipped to a page on clownfish. "Tell me, how familiar are you with hermaphroditic fish species?"

Izuku blinked owlishly, unsure of where the doctor was going with this. He chuckled before continuing, "In clownfish hierarchies, there are a dominant male and female who reproduce for the entire group. When the female dies, the largest and most dominant male undergoes a natural sex change and becomes the female of the group."

" _I'M A FISH_?!" Izuku screeched.

"Not at all, not at all," the doctor waved his hands placatingly. "The end result is similar, but the process is completely different. The sex of these fishes are determined by hormonal changes that lead to physiological changes; all clownfish have the ability to change sex. This is different from humans, where our sex is determined by our chromosomes. What has occurred with Izuku-chan is completely new and unique, but bears most similarity to a process of asexual reproduction known as parthenogenesis."

Izuku took note of how calm her mother seemed throughout the doctor's ramblings, and realized she must have received a full explanation already. _We'll get through this_ , she had said. Izuku felt dread form a tight knot in her stomach.

"In normal sexual reproduction," the doctor continued, pulling out a herpetology book and flipping to a picture of a lizard with a long, thin tail, "haploid gametes are created; eggs for female gametes, and sperm for male gametes. This is how humans reproduce, with the sex chromosomes being XX for female and XY for male. The letters are different for avian and reptile species, but haploid gametes are consistent among sexual reproduction.

In parthenogenesis, such as the whiptail lizard where _all_ members of the species are female, asexual reproduction occurs. A haploid gamete is restored to a diploid embryo and I won't bore you with the details, but this is most similar to the effects of young Izuku-chan's dormant Quirk. The exact trigger is up for debate. Whether it be from the heat caused by the explosions, since the transformation seemed to involve fire, or Izuku-chan's death in her male body-"

Inko let out a strangled sob at this, but the doctor pressed on, "Izuku-chan's chromosomes have been tested and confirmed as XX. We tested her genes with your consent, Inko-san, and the results were astonishing. The Y chromosome was recycled, and parts of Izuku-chan's existing X chromosome were used as a template to create a new X chromosome that is similar but different to the pre-existing one. Izuku-chan's pre-existing X chromosome remained the same as when she was male, and things get even _more_ interesting when you look at the results of her MRI."

The doctor pulled out a picture of the MRI scan from Izuku's medical files, "She is completely and thoroughly a biological female. Functioning ovaries, uterus, and even a female brain!"

"Female brain?" _That_ got her attention. "What do you mean by that?"

The doctor scratched his chin, humming noncommittally. "Men and women's brains operate differently, Izuku-chan. Women are naturally better abled at multi-tasking and reading body language, and several studies have demonstrated that trans women, despite having a male body, do indeed have brains that operate similar to a biological woman's. Your scans indicate the same- you are truly a woman in mind and body now."

Oh, now _this_ was too much. Her body was one thing, but her even her mind was different now? Fortunately, the doctor seemed to sense her distress and did his best to reassure her. "Now now, Izuku-chan. It's not like you're entirely a different person- I'm certain you'll enjoy all the same things you did as a boy. However, you may find yourself taking different thought processes, and my guess is if you were a heterosexual male before, you'll likely be a heterosexual female now."

She _was_ a straight boy before- not that any girl would give the Quirkless social outcast a second glance, but to think that she might like _boys_ now…

"C-can, can it be reversed?" Izuku whimpered. Please, please, please-

"I'm not sure, Izuku-chan, and we won't be finding out," the doctor frowned sadly. "It'd be unethical to kill you or blow you up to test it, and we wouldn't know if it would even work again. The amount of energy you released during your transformation was astounding, and given your mother's Quirk of attraction and your father's fire-type Quirk, my guess is your Quirk is some mutated combination of theirs and you could have been storing energy for years. I'm afraid the only recommendation I can give is that you'll have to get used to being a girl, Izuku-chan. I do wish you the best of luck."

Izuku broke down once the doctor left, sobbing uncontrollably as her mother embraced her gently.

Just what the hell had she gotten herself into?


	3. Reconciliation

Izuku's mother had left to go finish paperwork and pick up some supplies, including new clothes. She didn't mind. She certainly could use the time alone to sit in bed and come to terms with her new reality. Izuku was scared- scared of the unknown, scared of how her classmates would react, scared of how her life would play out. Granted, it couldn't be too much worse than when she was a boy… but she at least was beginning to accept her place in life and could focus on a realistic future, no matter how bleak or mundane. But now…

"Sir, please don't run in the hallway!" A nurse shouted distantly, drawing her attention to the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps. Izuku practically choked on her spit as a ragged, panting, and absolutely _livid_ Kacchan appeared at the doorway. She squeaked as his red eyes honed in on her and he stomped toward her, Quirk involuntary sending sparks flying around his hands.

" ** _Deku!_** " He roared before stopping by the foot of her bed, eyes overshadowed by his bangs and fists clenched at his sides. "You _fucking. **Shitty. Piece of nerd**_ **!** "

"K-kacchan, I-I-"

" ** _Don't_ ,**" He hissed causing her to flinch. "Are you really that weak?! HAHHH?! Are you so weak that you'd try to kill yourself just because I… because I…" He choked on his own voice, and Izuku watched in muted silence as he lifted his head to meet her gaze with a teary glare. "Because I was stupid enough to tell you to?"

"But you told me to jump off the roof, not commit suicide by vigilantism."

"Shut the fuck up!" He roared, Quirk popping through clenched fists and causing her to jump in her seat with a startled squeak. "I'll admit it was fucked up! Even if I didn't mean it, I fucked up **big time** saying that stupid shit, but to see you actually go through with it-"

"I didn't," Izuku interrupted him. She needed to nip _that_ idea in the bud, no matter how much he deserved to suffer for saying it. "I never would have considered it. I am glad that you regret it though, Kacchan. In all the years you've bullied me," He scowled, but she pressed on with courage she didn't know she could possess, "I've never heard you say anything as cruel as what you said earlier today. What if I had really jumped from the roof? What would you have done then?"

Kacchan was silent for a second before releasing a deep sigh, shoulders slumped. Izuku's eyes widened slightly- she'd never seen him look so… _defeated_. It wasn't a good look for him- the Kacchan she had always known and begrudgingly admired had been a beacon of victory.

"I… would feel even shittier than I do now." He admitted, stuffing his hands in his pockets and suddenly finding his shoes very interesting. "Some kind of hero I'd be if I was the reason people fucking _died_. Tch, guess you must think you were right to look down on me all these years."

 _Wait, what?!_ "Look down on you?!" Izuku's eyes furrowed in confusion. "When did I ever do that?"

"All the fucking time, you shitty fucking nerd," He said, though without the usual bite that accompanied Kacchan's normal insults. "Trying to help me when I fell in the stream even when I was fine _by myself_ , calling me a pet name from when we were fucking kids for _ten years straight_ ," Izuku flinched as the hostility returned in his tone - he actually made a good point with that one, "and even today. Thinking you could help _me_ of all people?" His fists clenched in his pockets and she could see smoke billowing out of them.

"You! Fucking powerless _you_ , Quirkless as far as we knew until today! You **shitty fucking _nerd,_ **jumping into a situation where you would be nothing more than another fucking casualty for the heroes to scrape off the sidewalk! Do you know how fucking _lucky_ you are to be alive?! Did you ever stop to think about how easily you could have been killed, HAAAAAHHHHH?!"

"I… I didn't think," She replied honestly, looking down at her lap. "Every time I've seen you in trouble, my body just moved on its own. I'm sorry if you thought I was looking down on you, Kacch- Bakugo-san."

"Tch, well look at where that got you." Kacchan's fists clenched at his sides again. She noticed the holes where his pockets were and realized he must have burnt through his pants. "Finally got yourself a Quirk and your life will never be the fuckin' same cuz of it. I got the gist of what happened, and I'm guessing that shit ain't reversible, cuz if it was they would've done it by now. And all cuz I was too fuckin' weak to take on that villain by myself- **dammit! _SHIT!_** "

Izuku felt her heart squeeze. "No," She gasped out before she could stop herself. "Ka- Bakugo-san is strong- the strongest I know. I admire you as much as All Might!"

"Wait, what?!" He was blushing, and she looked back down at her lap to hide her own blush. " _Why?_ "

"I don't know… no that's not true. I _do_ know," Izuku looked up to meet his surprised gaze despite her burning cheeks. "I looked up to All Might because my dream was to be a super cool hero who could save everybody with a smile on his face. But you… you were someone super cool close by that I could look up to every day. Someone who always won no matter what! I saw you take down bullies much older than you all the time, and I admired you for it! I wanted to be strong… like you. Someone, who even when they were beaten up and overpowered, would always come out on top."

Kacchan blinked owlishly before slapping the palm of his hand against his face, doing his best to hide his blush. "I'd be a shitty hero if all I cared about was beating the shit out of bad guys," he grumbled, sliding his hand down his face but refusing to meet her eyes. "It's shitty that it took you dying for me to figure out how important it was to save people. I'm sorry." He met her gaze with a weak glare.

"And don't bother with that whole Bakugo-san bullshit. You're dealing with enough change as it is."

Izuku smiled, and her heart felt lighter than it had in years. "I never thought I'd see the day where Kacchan apologized."

"Only proves I've been a shitty person."

She couldn't disagree, but the awkward silence that hung between them needed to end. "…for what it's worth, I forgive you Kacchan."

"…So what now?" She looked up, startled, and he rolled his eyes exasperatedly. "Where do we go from here, Izuku?" Good _Lords_ it was weird hearing her real name coming from him. It had to have been ten years since she'd last heard him say it correctly.

She wrung her hands together nervously and looked back down at her lap, hoping her cheeks weren't as red as they felt. "We… move on, I guess. You'll go to U.A.- I know you'll make it, Kacchan. I believe in you." Izuku's eyes remained on her lap, and she failed to see his cheeks heat up in response. "And I… I'll be fine, I think. I'll learn how to be a girl with what's left of the school year and go to a local high school to find a realistic future for myself. I know better than to play being a hero now; my new identity will be a constant reminder of what happens when I dream unrealistically."

"Fuck that, you're going to U.A."

She looked up, surprised, but Kacchan continued with steely determination. "A nerd like you has good enough grades to get into U.A.- they _do_ have a support course and general studies, you know. Besides, I read your notebook before I…" He trailed off, actually looking _regretful_ (also not a good look for him, she noted), "Yeah, so I know you analyze the shit out of Quirks. I'll bet you could design all sorts of cool shit, and my Quirk is perfect for testing support gear since I practically sweat a power source from my hands."

His determined look faltered when he heard Izuku sniffling, and if her teary eyes weren't covered by her hands she would have seen him look slightly panicked. "O-oy! What's wrong?! What'd I do now?!"

"I-I… I'm sorry," She wiped at her tears, but they kept coming. "I've never had someone say they believe in me, and to hear it from Kacchan… I-I…"

"Don't apologize for that, you're gonna piss me off you damn nerd," Kacchan spoke up, but his own voice seemed slightly strained, and if she weren't mistaken, he almost sounded… _sad_. He listened to her sob into her hands for a few moments before adding in, "And your dream ain't dead Izuku. Cuz thanks to you, I'm gonna be a hero that can beat anyone… and save anyone. I'll carry both our dreams." He paused before adding, "But I ain't smilin'- _fuck_ that."

Izuku began _wailing_ at that, and Kacchan was too preoccupied desperately trying (and failing) to calm her down, that neither teenager noticed the lanky blonde man lurking in the hallway who had overheard _everything_ , his hand clutched to his side.


	4. Succession

Izuku walked through the quiet streets of her neighborhood, her chest slightly chafing from the bra she wore- although her mother insisted it was something she would get used to. She was alone when her mother had returned to the hospital earlier; Kacchan had told her he needed to get home and explain to his mother that he was all right from the sludge villain incident.

 _Shit, I gotta go home and let the old hag know I'm fine before she throws an even **bigger** bitch fit. Gimme your phone, nerd; we'll meet up this weekend and study for the entrance exam._

And so, Izuku had been alone once again with only her thoughts to keep her occupied until her mother had shown up with a bag of clothes, underwear included. The bra was a little too small and the skirt she wore was a little too long, but it kept her decent as she was checked out of the hospital and walked home while Inko Midoriya went back out to find clothes that would fit her properly. Izuku's mother was worried about letting her walk home alone, but she was insistent that the exercise would do her good and give her more time to properly digest everything that had happened.

The sunset dyed the sky with warm shades of pink and orange and she felt herself smiling despite her troubles. For the first time in ten years, Izuku had a friend- and it was _Kacchan_ of all people. The thought of the tightly-wound blonde used to fill her with anxiety, but now he had promised to be her friend, and that made her feel… safe, and-

" **I AM HERE!** "

"KYAAAAA- All Might?!" Izuku stared with wide eyes as her idol skidded in front of her from the crossroad, arms straightened in his melodramatic pose. He was dressed in the same white tee and cargo pants from before. Izuku looked around hesitantly as if reporters would pop out of thin air. "Wh-what are you doing here? Wouldn't you be with reporters, or giving your reports to the police for the incident today?"

" **HAHAHAHA,** " His laughter bellowed loudly, and Izuku couldn't help but wonder how nobody else had heard him, or why she was even thinking about that while the number one hero had come out of his way to see her. _Women are naturally better abled at multi-tasking and reading body language_ , the doctor's words echoed in her mind, but All Might was oblivious to her internal monologue.

" **Escaping them was no problem.** **Why is that?** " He posed dramatically, flexing his muscles in a puffed out display. " **Because I am All Mi- _BLEHEHEHEHE_**."

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA," Izuku shrieked out as he deflated in a spray of blood and a cloud of smoke. The silence that followed her screaming was interrupted by a few shallow coughs. The skeletal form of the number one hero looked directly at Izuku.

"Young Midoriya, I've come here with an apology, a correction, and a suggestion." He bowed his head slightly, eyes closed. "Thank you, for saving your… friend. I am sorry that I was nothing more than a man in a bodysuit who was all talk."

"What?! N-no!" Izuku stuttered, fumbling for the right words. "It was my fault to begin with! I got in the way of your work, and I… died for ignoring your advice earlier!"

"That's right," All Might lifted his head to look her back in the eye. "You sacrificed your life to save someone who had told you to kill yourself the very same day."

Izuku felt her heart squeeze with panic. "You… you heard us?" She gasped out, suddenly short of breath. This was _bad_ \- the number one hero had overheard one of Kacchan's biggest regrets. Something like this could _end_ his career before it even started! "Kacchan, he-"

"He will be a wonderful hero, in time," All Might answered, as if sensing her panic. "Very crass, but it's more than apparent that he truly regrets his past actions and is working to atone. He was saved today, because of you, young Midoriya." Izuku stared, not quite believing what she was hearing. "Top heroes have stories about them from their school days. Most of them have one thing in common:"

 _Skinny legs ran forward on red high-tops before his mind could even process the situation._

"Their bodies moved before they had a chance to think."

Izuku gasped softly before choking back a sob, her eyes downcast and unable to look her idol in the eye.

 _For some reason, I remembered my mother's words._

 _I'm sorry, Izuku! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!_

She clutched at her pounding heart as she leaned forward, eyes filled to the brim as tears threatened to spill.

"That was true for you, too, wasn't it?"

The dam broke and with tears running down her cheeks, and she choked out in a shaky voice, "Y-yes! Yes!"

 _That's not it, Mom. Back then, what I wanted you to say was…_

 _The words I wanted you to say were…_

With the glow of the setting sun framing the weathered, skinny body of the number one hero with piercing blue eyes, Izuku fell to her knees, hands clutching her chest, and tears falling freely. And her idol, her hero, the man she idolized more than anyone in the world said,

"You can be a hero."

 _Could there be anything more surprising than this? Could there-_

"I believe you are worthy of inheriting my power!"

 _Wait, what?!_

Izuku looked up with wet eyes and stained cheeks before tilting her head and squeaking out a confused,

"Huh?"

" _GAHAHAHAHAHA_ " All Might cackled, obviously amused at her confusion. "What's with that face, young lady? Wait… how are you handling your new sex? Gender? Gah, I can't keep up with all the specifics- a hero never rests, after all."

"I... haven't really had much time to process it, but I have noticed some small changes," She answered truthfully with a noncommittal shrug, wiping the tears from her eyes. "But it'll probably be easier for me to just try being a girl from hereon out- it honestly isn't important to me. I don't exactly have a frame of reference since nobody, girls especially, wanted to be seen around the Quirkless kid."

"Well that's horrifically depressing…" All Might mumbled out. He panicked at the new tears coming from Izuku and realized she must have heard him. "But it matters not! The real challenge starts now! Listen, young Midoriya, you must decide!" He pointed at her dramatically, blood spraying from his mouth while shouting, "Whether or not you will accept my power!"

Izuku continued to stare dumbly at him as if he'd grown another head- which considering his two forms was an equally likely possibility. Just what the hell was up with this guy?!

"I'm talking about my power, young lady," All Might repeated. "The tabloids call it super strength with a boost, and I constantly dodge the question during interviews with a funny joke."

Huh… he did do that, didn't he?

"Because the number one hero, the symbol of peace had to be a natural born hero. But young lady, I will tell you the truth." All Might stretched his arms out in a dramatic pose- (he sure did that a lot, didn't he?) before continuing, "My Quirk was passed onto my like a sacred torch."

"Passed, onto you?!" Izuku gasped in disbelief.

"That's right, and now it's your turn."

"W-wait, wait a minute!" She stuttered. "It's true that your Quirk is something that's hotly debated as one of the world's greatest mysteries. In fact, there's not a day I don't see some sort of discussion about it online. But…"

And she then fell into a disturbingly long mumbling speech about the impossibilities of such a Quirk, how such a Quirk has never existed since the dawn of time- not noticing the deadpanned look of the hero in front of her.

"You always start with denial, huh?" All Might commentated on her mental breakdown. "Nonsense!"

"Huh?!"

"You have a Quirk that activated on your death, burned your male body in a great pillar of fire, and rebirthed you from the ashes with a fully anatomical female body, and yet you question a Quirk that can be passed on like a torch?!"

"…Good point," Izuku conceded. He had her on that- if anything, _her_ Quirk was the weirder concept of the two. She tilted her head and blinked curiously. "So, what _is_ your Quirk."

"The Quirk I was gifted with is called One For All. One user cultivates the power and passes it on to the next, who cultivates it further and passes it on," All Might explained.

"So it's a Quirk that stockpiles physical power over generations?"

All Might grinned, apparently pleased at her conclusion. "Exactly."

This was… a lot to take in. And for someone like her…

"Why would… you give me something so incredible?"

"I have been looking for a successor," He said matter-of-factly. "And then I saw you. A powerless person willing to sacrifice themselves to save those in danger. You may have died, but you were the most heroic person on site today. Will you accept my offer, young Midoriya?"

"…Y-yes," She sobbed, earning a grin from her hero.

"An immediate response, how wonderful."

"B-but…" He frowned, but allowed her to continue. "How do I explain this kind of power to my Mom? Or to Kacchan? It's not like I can hide it forever, _especially_ from someone as smart and persistent as Kacchan. He aced the mock exam for U.A."

"….. SHIT! I didn't think of that!"

Her hero was a dork- it was official.

"Unless…" All Might scratched his chin, contemplating, "Unless they think it's a new side effect of your Quirk."

And apparently an impromptu genius. Izuku felt herself grinning. "When do I start?"


End file.
